Via a series of text messages between AJC beat writer David O'Brien and Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones comes this follow up from yesterday's comments from Chipper about retirement:

Chipper also added, "LOL".

But seriously, more reason not to have overreacted to yesterday's comments. Which I don't believe I (we) did. Chipper added these comments to MLB beat writer Mark Bowman:

“Unfortunately, I said it around two guys who don’t know me very well and they didn’t realize I was kidding around,” Jones said. “One of the guys asked, ‘You think you can make it through the season with your knees?’ I said, ‘Make it through the season, I don’t know if I can make it through tomorrow.’ Obviously, I’m joking. That’s an obvious joke. Really, I just came off the field after playing eight innings. I’ve had eight at-bats all spring. I was kidding around.

At any rate, Chipper is in it for the whole season. You may now resume your daily freakout about the Braves spring training record...

UPDATE 2:20pm

I had a conversation with David O'Brien about this, as the quotes from Chipper first ran in his column, and here is the story behind the story: DOB was interviewing Chipper along with Jon Paul Morosi of Fox and a St. Louis beat writer. When the questions turned to general baseball questions and some St. Louis related baseball questions, DOB went to grab some quotes from a few other Braves players he needed to get quotes from as they came into the clubhouse and out of the game. That's when the quotes that stirred up all this controversy occurred. Later in the press box DOB simply got those quotes from the other reporters who where there (who don't know Chipper all that well, and may not have known he was kidding). This kind of note sharing happens quite a bit around the press room, so it is not uncommon.

The story would have run on FoxSports.com anyway, so DOB's quotes were just a few hours ahead of Morosi's story. The bus that took the players back to Orlando yesterday had left by the time the game was over and DOB got back down to the clubhouse, so he was not able to follow up with Chipper yesterday.

Anyway, there you have it. Just some quotes taken the wrong way. It's happened before, and it will happen again. I appreciate DOB helping us clear this up.